Secondhand Roses
by Kiba Sniper
Summary: Hinata is a little surprised when Souda shoves a bouquet of roses in front of his face. Souda/Hinata.


Secondhand Roses

Red filled Hinata's vision and completely obscured the beach. He blinked, but the color remained. Scarlet hues took over his gaze and then stripped him of speech. When he took a breath, a pleasant aroma like fresh fruit calmed him, but it took over the delectable scent of saltwater in the air.

Hinata sighed, shoulders relaxing. He stepped to the side, tilting his head at Souda who was currently presenting him with a bouquet of roses. Souda's fingers twitched around the glass vase with white-knuckled intensity, and Hinata furrowed his brow, asking what he was doing.

"Take 'em! Just take my shame away!" Souda snapped, thrusting the bouquet at Hinata, who immediately side-stepped again.

"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what exactly someone like you is doing with roses," Hinata said, gliding his hands into his pockets.

Souda wrinkled his nose and grumbled. He wrapped his arm around the vase, clutching it to his chest. The roses tickled his chin, and he mumbled obscenities under his breath. He had hoped Hinata would take the roses without questioning him so he could dash off to bawl, but it seemed like fate had another irritating plan.

"I mean, you're definitely not the kind of guy who just presents roses to people. I thought you'd give something like motor oil," Hinata said, gingerly thumbing a rose's soft petals. "Where'd you even get these? I don't think the market sells them."

Souda rolled his eyes. "Well, I had a ton of those Monokuma coins-"

"Monocoins. They're called Monocoins," Hinata interjected, pulling out a few Monocoins from his pocket.

"-from the-shut up, man-from that game machine and-" Souda shot his finger at Hinata's nose when he opened his mouth. "-don't interrupt me again with the right word for it, and don't even think about talking for the next minute! You wanted to hear it, so I'm laying it on ya!"

Hinata chuckled, clamped his lips shut, and he set his hands back into his pockets. Souda truly had a way with words.

"I was spending all of my _Monocoins_ to get those roses in vitro or whatever. I must've spent like hundreds of coins that I picked up from all over the island," Souda said, peering down at the roses, and when Hinata counted the flowers, he realized there were over fifty small roses tied together with a pink and black bow.

"That sounds like a lot of work. How'd you find so many Monocoins?"

Souda smirked, lifting his pointed nose to the cloudy sky overhead. "Well, when you've got free time, you spend it looking for things to do! When I found my first coin, I just went ahead and kept looking for more and more when I had another brilliant idea."

His shark-toothed smirk spread into his cheeks, and Souda beamed like a signal flare. Hinata felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead caused by the beating sun and the faint embarrassment he felt for Souda creeping up his spine. Sometimes, his soul friend was a bit too eccentric for his tastes, but so far, Souda's story seemed to be in good taste. He prompted Souda to continue.

Souda's smirk waned by a couple molars. His gaze drifted back to the roses, and Hinata's eyes widened, mystified by the sudden melancholy wearing down on Souda. Asking what was wrong, Hinata stepped by his side, their shoulders touching.

"Guess, uh, well…" Souda tried to snicker, keeping his stare pinpointed on the roses. "...turns it Sonia-san was already given roses today and accepted their feelings."

"And who's that person?" Hinata asked, lowering his voice.

Souda scratched behind his ear and then pulled at his jumpsuit. He hunched forward, raising his free hand to cup around his lips and whispered into Hinata's ear. Hinata's eyes bulged almost out of his sockets, and his lips parted into a surprised gape.

"Owari? Owari Akane, one of the wildest and unpredictable people here, giving out flowers?" Hinata blurted, and Souda slapped his hand over Hinata's mouth. As Hinata's muffled words bounced against Souda's clammy palm, Hinata scrunched his eyes at the seething mechanic.

"I told you to shut up!" Souda spat, sweat dampening his brow as heat flushed his cheeks, and Hinata noted Souda's face now resembled the color of his dyed hair.

Pushing Souda's hand off his face, Hinata mumbled, "Souda, your hand smells like oil."

Souda grimaced and sniffed his palm. "Really? I even used cologne scented hand sanitizer to get all spritzed up, too."

"And what scent was that cologne?"

Souda stared at Hinata before drifting his attention back to the roses, announcing, "Anyway, you gotta take these! If I can't give 'em Sonia-san, I might as well pawn them off on you. After all, we're soul friends, so it's fine to give stuff like this to each other or something."

Hinata hesitated, hands tentatively coming out of his pockets, and eyes glinting, Souda saw his opportunity. Souda lunged, shouting for Hinata to take the roses, and Hinata yelped, arms instinctively reaching to push Souda away. The bouquet, however, slipped from Souda's sweaty fingers, and the vase threatened to fall as they both shrieked.

Hinata snatched the underside of the vase, a loud cry emitting from the back of Souda's throat. Hinata snatched the stems and steadied himself, but his expression writhed from a sudden twinge of agony,. He unraveled his fingers from the stems. A few pinpricks from the roses' thorns cut into Hinata's hand, and Souda sucked down a breath, pale and flustered.

"Oh, ow, that looks like it smarts," Souda said, scratching behind his neck. "Sorry, Hinata, but you've really taken a weight off my shoulders. Thanks!"

Hinata sighed, wiping his palm on his pant leg. The pain was hardly bothersome compared to the relief sweeping over Souda's face. Souda's lopsided grin returned in full force teased away any lingering throbbing in Hinata's fingers. Hinata returned Souda's beaming smile with a tired one of his own.

"Yeah, it's no problem, Souda. You know…" Hinata sniffed the roses. "...these are actually really nice. You must've really spent a lot of time on this."

The remark made Souda's lips quirk, and a sputtered agreement was Hinata's answer. Hinata knew Sonia had eyes for everyone else except Souda, who constantly sought her affections with unwanted, overabundant gestures and proclamations. Hinata had suggested for Souda to look elsewhere for love, but Souda was adamant in winning over Sonia.

In a way, Hinata felt relieved that Owari and Sonia were together. He hoped Souda would stop his ceaseless, cantankering desires for Sonia now that she had found an earnest partner. Maybe, Hinata hoped, Souda would even realize what he was looking for was right in front of him.

"A-a-anyway, uh, let's go catch a flick or something! I don't wanna stand in the sun all day when I've been running around looking for Sonia-san," Souda said, reaching up and stretching his arms. Clapping Hinata over his shoulder, he brought him closer and added, "I heard Monokuma has some new action movie out. We should watch it!"

"Knowing Monokuma, it's gonna be awful and be really expensive," Hinata deadpanned, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah, but you're paying, okay? I'm broke right now," Souda said, and Hinata gawked, defiance in his eyes only to wither out with an elongated, huffing sigh. "You cool, man?"

Hinata nodded, a brisk smile playing on his lips. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's head back to my cabin so I can set these roses down and replace the water in the vase. Then, we'll watch whatever garbage Monokuma has set up."

"Awesome! That's my soul friend for ya with his ever-thinking mind!"

"Right back at you, Souda. You're really an amazing guy."

Hinata's accolade, sounding like it was coming out of left field, brought another disgruntled noise from the back of Souda's threat only to play out as a laugh. Souda continued roughly patting Hinata's back, blurting that they made an incredible duo. With the scent of roses wafting around them, Hinata and Souda marched towards the cabins, matching each other's strides and smiling all the way.


End file.
